I’ve the potential here to make a very cogent post about online music piracy, file sharing and the recording industry. Provided I spend the time to do a bit of research and gather some facts, the end result will be something remarkable. Just you wait.
See, I found this article. It appears that Warner Music (UK) is having such a successful sales run on “Crazy” — the super-sweet track from Gnarls Barkley — that they are simply going to stop shipping the single. That’s right. Business is so amazing that they are going to cut off production at somewhere around a half-million pressings and call it a day. All the better, they say, to build up a head of steam for “Smiley Faces,” the next single from St. Elsewhere.*
Now, what I need to do is reach back through my memory and Google to correlate all of the various cries of “Wolf!” we’ve heard from the music industry. Pirates are everywhere, they say, and they’re killing record sales left and right.
Additionally, I could talk a little bit about how popular “Crazy” has been and remains on the various file sharing networks. Of course, I’ll speak about this in low tones, so as not to alert the authorities. Basically, all you need to know is that anyone who wanted to acquire this single via the Internets, could do so. Easily.
And yet, sales are booming.
Interesting Fact: “Crazy” was the UK’s first number one single based on online sales alone.
In the end, this post would wrap up with a brilliant conclusion about how so many of us have been right all along. File sharing, MP3 blogging, music podcasting. All of these so-called questionable practices serve primarilly to spread word of new music. Sure, some music pirates really do have peglegs and eye-patches (perhaps two of them), and they are attempting to actually make a dishonest doubloon from counterfeit product.
Many folk online are just regular people. They hear something good and want to share it. At the end of the day, they’re doing more A&R work than PR folks that promote music for a living.
But I’m just too tired to make such a sensible post.
* – Other sources are saying that Cee-lo & Dangermouse made the call to halt … but I’m doubting it.
